New Law
by TACKTeam
Summary: With the disappearance of their group of protectors, the city of Royal Woods has been facing frequent crimes and homicides, but now they're facing bigger troubles with a group that suddenly appeared. They don't know who they are. Some think they're myths, others think they're bandits, very few think they're heroes. They're nobodies. They're just trying to survive.
1. Prologue: Look Before You Leap

_August 24th, 2021_

 _Royal Woods, MI, North Wing._

 _10:17:38 PM_

The city's lights illuminated the night sky, as the years had gone by, the small town of Royal Woods had grown into a bustling city, with its population going from a mere 20,000 to nearly 100,000 in a matter of 10 years. Well, besides the city's government funding to build-up the small town it once was, it would also have to be because Royal Woods was the home of the biggest crime fighting team in the United States, known as the Full House Gang. Those heroes have been long gone in the last few years, leading the once peaceful and secure city into a trap for those who weren't careful or lucky enough to avoid villains.

Oh yes, the city wasn't without villains like Wildcard Willy before, but they used to be kept in check by the high deck. Once they disappeared, though, villains everywhere flocked to Royal Woods. Some wanted to make a fortune, some wanted personal minions, and others just felt like being evil. Luckily for the people, they had someone to fight for them, and be there for them when they needed protection for a long while.

However, a tragic event had occurred no less than 4 years ago, where the two leaders and co-founders of the the heroic gang sacrificed their lives in order to save the city. It left many heartbroken, thousands of people were there during their funeral before the remainder of what they could find from their fallen heroes was buried six feet under.

And what was left of the team? They continued their jobs for a while, but one day, just like a hungry cat, they disappeared, and haven't come back to this day. Yep police struggled to hold back the forces once handled by them. What exactly happened to them is a mystery to the public, though many believe that they simply couldn't handle the weight of the loss and gave up their heroic ways.

And they were right. Sort of.

* * *

"Alright, I'm in the building. What do I do now?" The quiet, voice of a little girl, no older than 5 perhaps, spoke into a tiny earpiece. Her body was clad in a dark spandex suit from head to toe, which served the girl some stealth as to not get spotted by whatever she was looking out for, and a belt loaded with, what looked like, gas bombs. She swiftly traveled through the vents, her maneuvers being quick and her steps being light like a feather, which made it almost impossible to hear her move through the vents.

" _The artifact is locked inside the owners office. You may find some minor security. Avoid being spotted, burst in, and flee to the extraction point."_ The voice of a young woman spoke through the girl's earpiece, sounding cold and serious.

"You got it, L- I mean, Pridestalker." The girl stuttered, quickly fixing her mistake. However, the person whom she was speaking to caught ear of it.

" _That's another thing, Kalulu. Even if no one is around, you never know who might be intercepting us. Never use our alter-ego_."

Kalulu sighed as she approached the vent that led to the office, where the artifact she was looking for was stored. "Right, sorry. I still need to get that down." With a kick, she opened the vent entrance and jumped down without hesitation, landing without a sound being made. She made her way through the room, hiding behind piles of boxes and machinery every few seconds before getting to a door.

She heard footsteps in the room, so she quickly darted behind a large stack of cardboard boxes filled with who-knows-what. The steps got louder as they got closer to where she was hiding, yet they were none the wiser of her presence.

"So, ya think someone will be coming after it?" One of the men said to his partner beside him.

"I don't know. Just follow the orders. This thing is leaving the state tomorrow, and we'll be well paid for it." The other man responded, more concentrated on his job than his partner.

"We better be. It was hard enough to get that. Do you know what it is?"

"No idea, man, but we lost some good men trying to grab it."

Kalulu tried her best to remain still and quiet in her spot, desperately hoping that they would leave so that she could continue on her path. The door was _right_ there, if those two knuckleheads would go away, or at least look away from it for a few seconds, she could slip by and get inside without them noticing.

"What do I do? They won't move." She whispered as quietly as she could. She didn't want to ask for help because this was her first ever solo mission (even if it was for the purpose of training), and she wanted to make her siblings proud and use what they taught her.

" _Get a smoke bomb, and throw it right at them. You should have enough time to reach your target."_ Pridestalker replied, also trying to keep her voice down, but also feeling tired of hearing the two guards talking while Kalulu did nothing.

"R-right, I was just about to do that." The young girl reached for her belt on her waist and pulled out a tiny, round object. She chucked it at the guards and it went off immediately after contact. The room soon filled with thick, black smoke. Kalulu wasted no time making her exit.

"What the hell happened?!" One of the guards asked, coughing hysterically from the smoke.

"I dunno, but I think we're gonna need backup, we have a runt in here!" The other guard said, also coughing.

"I got this!" One of them reached for a small radio tied to his chest. "Attention, we have been breached! Requesting backup, I repeat, requesting backup."

The sound of the alarm sounded throughout the whole building, Kalulu felt herself sprint faster as her heart raced from both the adrenaline and panic. Now she understood why some of them liked triggering the alarms during heists; the feeling of knowing you have a short time limit before you get caught gets the blood pumping.

She sped through the corridor as now many more footprints sounded behind her, chasing after her, passing different inventions displayed on a podium, but none of them caught her interest since it wasn't the one she was looking for. She took a small capsule off of her belt. It opened, revealing a black and lavender rabbit mask, which she proceeded to put on her face before throwing the capsule behind her in one fluid motion. The capsule went off the moment it made contact, releasing a gas that halted the men chasing after her for a minute.

Enough time for her to steal the artifact.

She reached the end of the hallway to where an elevator was. She frantically pushed the button until it opened, and jumped inside. The guards were just about to reach her before the door closed tightly and the elevator began moving upwards. In their efforts to catch her, they had rammed headfirst into the door and each other, leaving them dazed on the ground. Kalulu chuckled to herself, as well as taking time to catch her breath.

Soon enough, the elevator came to a halt and the doors spread open, revealing a small room containing the artifact. Encased in a little glass container was a small sphere with a glowing purple triangle in the center of it, as well as other, far dimmer lines circling around it, creating a pattern of 'X's around the sphere. The beauty of the object almost put her in a trance, though she soon snapped out of it and took it, without triggering any more alarms, luckily.

"The artifact is in my possession. Where is the best way to make my escape?" Kalulu spoke in her earpiece, as the sphere shrunk in size, which conveniently fit her belt pockets.

" _Hmm…"_ She heard the girl on the other line hum. _"There's a way out back at the elevator, there's a vent in it's ceiling where you can get out of, once you're out, travel down until you see a small vent opening, it's enough for you to fit through. Travel east of the vent canal, and you should be out on the side of the building."_

"Thanks, I'll be on my way out." Kalulu cut off the call and followed those exact directions. She was actually doing it, she actually managed to pull off a mission! On her own, too! Well, aside from having the group leader help her out a bit, of course.

Once she got into the elevator, she jumped up into the vent on the ceiling, using special technology in her shoes that allowed her to bounce more. It made covering long or high distances much easier. She waited patiently as the elevator slowly went downwards as she looked for the vent exit.

However, the elevator came to a screeching halt, which confused the dark-clad girl. She looked at the ropes, seeing they were in a good status to not cause the sudden halt.

"What's going on-"

Before Kalulu could finish her sentence, the elevator started working again, however, instead of lowering down slowly, it began falling freely. The scream came naturally with the fall, before she fell inside the elevator, hitting the floor, and being stunt for a short while.

" _Kalulu, are you okay? Kalulu, you copy?"_ She heard from her speaker.

"I copy...though I might not be in my 100%"

" _We'll take care of that back in the base. You need to get out of there, they sabotaged the elevator, and even more of them are coming."_

The doors opened to reveal even _more_ guards than ever before. Thinking fast, she took another smoke bomb and leap through the cloud of smoke. She pressed a button on the right side of her rabbit mask near her temples. A device that was essentially the glass part of goggles settled in front of her eyes, allowing her to see clearer through the smoke. Just to be safe, she threw yet another bomb at them. The smoke filled the entire room by the time she was out of there and making her getaway.

She continued to run, but instead of heading towards the vents, she made a run for the front door, which lead to the rooftop. She quickly reached it while the security was still busy with the smoke, so she grabbed the door handle, and pulled the door, which didn't budge. She tried forcing it, and even pushing, but nothing seemed to work. She continued trying until she heard a noise behind her. She noticed the security all looking at her, and some even have weapons. There was at least ten of them.

"So, you think that you can simply steal from us and get away with it, kid?" One of them said, approaching her. "Well, that's cute."

"Wait, isn't that one of those bounty hunters or something that's always showing up in the news?" Another one asked. "I remember a little rabbit or something like that."

"Yeah, I think I have! She was always at someone else's side, though. Usually some smartass fox-looking kid or that lion lady."

Kalulu's fearful expression turned into a smile, then a smirk, which the group of men took notice of. The expression itself was enough for them to bring out their weapons.

"What are ya smirking at, brat?" One of the guards stepped closer to her, trying to intimidate the girl, but the smirk she held didn't disappear.

They heard a faint 'tap' behind them, the group of men turned around to see a young woman, probably on her late teens or early twenties, wearing a mask over her eyes and a tight, black spandex suit with a little bit of cleavage revealing, but not much; a light gold and blue trimming around the neck and sides of her, which matched the colors of Bast, or in this case, an egyptian lioness and the headdress of a Pharaoh while a leather whip-like belt was attached as a tail around her waist.

"You should literally think about being nicer to kids." She said, after delivering one single blow that knocked the man out.

Some more guards trickled out of the building, aiming their weapons at the woman. She immediately leapt into action. Three long blades popped out from her gloves where her knuckles were. One by one, she took every single guard without even giving the time for them to react. It took only a few seconds before they were apparently out of danger.

The lioness woman brought her blades back into their sockets, and looking at the bleeding out bodies of the fallen men, with a few twitching and groaning before becoming stiff. Not that the woman really cared either way.

She looked back at the bunny girl, who looked at her with a smile. Though her smile slowly fell into a frown as she saw the woman look at her which, what she thought, was disappointment. The woman looked away and focused her gaze on the hallway, where faint footsteps could be heard.

"We need to leave, now." The woman spoke, while Kalulu nodded.

By the time the second wave of guards had arrived, the duo were long gone. All that they had left were the bodies laying on the ground, and the front door busted open. Some ran outside to search for them, but with no success. The two of them ran, or rather, the bunny girl was carried by the lion girl for a few blocks, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, even tree to tree, in an elegant and swifty style.

Once they were a good distance away from the building, the lioness stopped at a rooftop, Kalulu jumping off her back as she did and sitting down on the pavement while the lioness looked back at the building they had infiltrated.

Kalulu was too afraid to speak, but she didn't want to sit in an awkward silence either. "S-so… how did I do for my first solo mission, Pridestalker?" She asked nervously.

"Well, you did put the whole building on your track." Pridestalker said. "But, you didn't do half bad. Couple more missions, and you'll get the hang of it."

Kalulu's face brightened up. "Wow, yeah? That'd be awesome! And I'd get to join you guys on the more serious stuff!"

"But you still have more to learn before we can let you go off on your own, your inability to remain calm and unable to think straight while only two guards are at the entrance was pathetic." Pridestalker said in a harsh tone, killing Kalulu's smile almost immediately. "Don't expect for things to get easier from now on. You'll train harder, work harder, and then we'll see how you do on your own again." The lioness turned to look at the little girl, her ice blue eyes staring at her coldly. "Understood?"

"...Yes, ma'am." Kalulu responded quietly.

"Good. Now let's go back to the hideout. Just because you're one of us doesn't mean you're not a kid, and it's past your bedtime."She said as she chuckled lightly at the girl's pout to the statement.

"Humph...fine."

And so they made their way back to where the rest of their gang was, both somewhat satisfied of a job technically completed. Just because it was a training mission doesn't mean they couldn't expect some profit from it.

* * *

 _August 25th, 2021_

 _Royal Woods, MI, East Wing._

 _2:15:20 AM_

The east side of the city was on the more wealthier side, being that some of the richest families in the whole city lived in that area. Most of the rich folk were of high-class, and like most would expect, they often made fun of the lower-class families for not being 'at their level'. Lord Tetherby, who had a bit of a hand in helping Royal Woods develop, was no different from them, but the man had some respectable moments. Rarely enough.

Now, rather than being in the comfort of his king sized bed, Tetherby was waiting at his office, patiently. He kept staring back at the clock while looking back at balcony, vent, or window. Why these three you might ask? Well, it's because that's when he gets his packaged delivered. Why not by mail? Because it's much more important than normal mail, something he's been waiting to get for months now, but luckily, he had the perfect people to deliver it to him.

As expected, the old man heard a tap by the balcony. Getting up from his desk, he made his way towards the dark balcony, in which a woman was standing on, leaning against the case as she looked at Tetherby sternly.

"I was wondering when you'd show up." Tetherby spoke, approaching the woman. "Do you have it?"

"Yes, it's right here." She simply said, and showed something to him. The small sphere returning to its full size once in Tetherby's sight. He tried to grab it, but the woman pulled it back.

"Cash first, old man."

Tetherby chuckled, with a malicious tone to it. "You youngsters and your greed." He reached into his jacket, supposedly to give her her money.

"Sure… _greed. Pleasure_ doing business with you." She said, ironically. She flashed him a grin that almost made it look like she had sharp teeth. It was just the lighting, though.

"Pleasure doing business with you as well." Tetherby handed her a big wad of money of one hundreds as she exchanged it for the sphere.

The woman jumped out and into the night, not leaving a trace.

As she left, a malicious grin appeared on Tetherby's face as he examined the sphere.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Pridestalker. Or should I say… High Card?"


	2. Chapter 1: Out With A Bang

_August 25th, 2021_

 _Royal Woods, MI, West Wing._

 _2:45:17 AM_

Despite the late night hours, the city streets were still bustling, albeit not as much compared to the early hours. Either it was late night workers making their way back home or going to work the night shift, or the night owls that come out to hang out at clubs and party; whatever the reason is.

"They just go back and forward, doing the same things all over again, safe and sound on their boring jobs and routines, or enjoying their youth with friends, doing stupid mistakes like there's no tomorrow _."_ A young man said to himself. Nobody would really hear him if he was sitting on top of a building, just watching the one or two cars that shone on the roads below his feet. He took out a small capsule from the pocket of his jacket, which opened up to reveal a mask similar to Kalulu's, except this time a white polar bear mask, and the eyeholes were covered up by clear blue glass. "Those people are lucky." He spoke again as he examined the mask.

His mouth was covered by a black cloth, hiding the lower part of his face. He wore a grey jacket with the hood over it covering his snow-white hair, the linings of the hood being covered by an orange fur trimming. Underneath, he was wearing a tight, black long-sleeved shirt that hugged his torso, dark, almost black, blue pants and white shoes with blue trimmings along the soles of it. Blue-gray, fingerless gloves covered his palms as he ran fingers along the weapon, a gun, he had placed on his lap. The belt around his waist had a few pockets in them, most of which seemed to be filled by little, bomb-looking capsules, two pockets holding two daggers separately, and one which seemed to be meant for the gun he had on his lap.

You would think he would be hot under all that clothing, but he wasn't, he got used to wearing it and soon got used to the heat it would bring as well. Especially since he needed it, due to the type of weaponry he handled. Y'see, he was called Frostbite for a reason.

"Huh, such irony. Always wanted to be a superhero, now look where I am. Dude with an ice gun, and heart just as cold as the ice he shoots, stealing stuff…"He paused, laying down on the building's rooftop as his legs dangled off the ledge, holding the gun in his hand as he aimed it up at the night sky while holding the mask in his other. "Hurting people...yep, definitely not what I expected."

He closed his eyes, lowering his arm down and placing the gun beside him, and putting his arms behind his head to pillow them from the hard pavement.

"Might as well take advantage of the free time I have for now." He placed the mask above his closed eyes. He didn't necessarily feel sleepy, but he didn't have anything else to do, so might as well rest.

* * *

A few streets away from Frostbite's location was a cell tower which reached up high into the sky, just enough to deliver the calls and messages it was build to do. Kneeling by the top of the tower was a figure, it seemed to be messing around with the tower system, although not seem to care about the disruptions it led to other tower connections.

The fuse box he or she had been messing with seemed to miss a couple components, and other that seemed unnecessary. Next, she introduced a small device, connecting it to the box. "Now, I must have access to most of the electric devices spread across this building." She mumbled to herself.

She pulled out what seemed to be a small black box. Pulling the sides apart, it opened in a virtual light blue screen, showing images, and shining the figure's clothes. A mask covered her face, a grayish-green steampunk fox mask with dark green goggles covering the eyeholes. There were tiny golden spikes lining the round cover. They were actually blunt, even if it didn't look like it. The goggles were connected with a brown leather strap. She also wore a light green shirt under an unbuttoned leather jacket, and dark green khaki pants, and brown boots. Her hands were covered by black gloves and emerald green glass ovals on the back of her hand, her knuckles, and the strap on the wrist that closed the gloves. The palms of her gloves had a small hole that apparently could shoot bright green acid. A silver fox-like tail made of scraps was formed near the tailbone, permanently bent in an upward shape so that it wouldn't drag on the ground.

"They surely lack proper security measures, though I shouldn't complain, as I benefit from these breaches." She continued mumbling. "Now, let's see what other flaws they have in their systems."

The screen was switched from video camera transmissions, to the building's blueprints, and even the schedule of security saved in computer stored in one of the various computers of the place. The information was easy to sort and collect. They made sure to save and download everything needed before disconnecting most of the equipment from the power box.

"Now, it's just a matter of planning the invasion inside to gather what's necessary." She mumbled, closing the box with its cover.

* * *

On top on one of the several skyscrapers in Royal Woods lingered two young girls, one at 12 and the other at 17. The former was sit down over the edge, while the latter made her way towards her from behind.

The 17 year old one was clad in a red and black sweater, dark red pants and black cleats. The cleats' spikes were of the same golden color as the ones on the fox-masked girl's goggles but were actually sharp, good for gripping the ground and delivering a brutal kick. She wore a mask too, a red falcon mask with an orange and black beak, with a similar style to that of a masquerade-styled mask, except it lacked the elegance those type of masks usually held. Instead, it was more rugged and damaged, evident of past melee scuffles. A small crack ran from the right nostril of the beak and two larger cracks were near the left eye hole.

The 12 year old one, meanwhile, wore entirely black and dark grey. This included a black cloak with the hood up, black pants, and black knee-high heeled boots, while underneath she wore a dark gray, tight dress that reached her mid-thigh. She wore a raven masquerade-styled mask, which wasn't as damaged as the one of the girl beside her but the tip of the beak was slightly chipped off.

Both were sitting at the top of the building, looking up at the night sky. The city lights couldn't reach them from how high up they were, so it gave a perfect chance to observe the twinkling stars. It was peaceful, that's for sure.

"I thought I'd find you here." The older one said. "You always loved these places, no one sees you, but you can see everyone."

"Yeah, so peaceful… and quiet. Nice to get lost in your thoughts." The younger one replied as she stared off into the distance wistfully.

The older girl sat next to her, dangling her legs off the edge like her partner. "Yeah, but sometimes your mind brings up thoughts that you'd want to forget."

"Just because we want to forget doesn't mean we should. We changed a lot, things were much brighter before…"

"Yeah, I miss those simpler times… I mean, they weren't _that_ simple, but still simpler than now." The older girl gave a slight shrug.

"That's what happens when you get older, I guess…"

"Growing up...plus all the other crazy shit we had to deal with. I'd say we didn't have much luck with all of this."

"Nope… sometimes, I really wish Mom and Dad were still here."

"Yeah, I also do. Too bad we can't change the past here. We can just set our future, try to make it better than now. Just know that you're not alone in this. We carry this weight together, like we're supposed to."

"Right. And, I'm sure they'd be proud of us for, you know… doing what we can."

"Even if the stuff we do isn't exactly the nicest… but sometimes you've gotta do some bad to do some good too, I guess."

" _Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?"_ They suddenly heard over their earpieces. " _We're in the first floor in Kinship Tower, and we're being crushed down here! We need backup, I repeat, we need backup!"_

"You've got it. We'll _flock_ right over there, Laughingstock." The girl in the falcon mask said. She heard laughter on the other end. "Thought you might appreciate the pun."

She turned towards the girl in the raven mask and nudged her. "C'mon, Absinthe. We gotta go."

"Alright, Phoenix." Absinthe said monotonously.

They both stood up and clicked a button on the left side of their masks. A pair of steampunk wings sprouted from their backs and spread out, each wing spanning about 6 feet wide. Phoenix's wings were red with red metal spokes holding it together, attached to a similarly grey metallic ball with a red center. Absinthe's wings were of a similar design, except dark grey rather than red and the center of the ball being black.

"Also, I never really understood your name. What does it mean?" Phoenix asked.

"It's the name of a flower, used to make the alcoholic beverage of the same name. The name gave off the spooky vibe I was going for..." Absinthe replied.

They jumped off the building and started free-falling a bit before the wings allowed the air to catch them and let them hover a bit. The wings flapped higher and higher until past the needlepoint on top of the skyscraper they were sitting on before, and they started flying towards their destination.

* * *

Back in the Kinship Tower in the very far side of the west side of the city, things didn't look good for a group of 3 masked figures, as a huge group of armed men were firing towards their directions. One was wearing a hyena mask, and the other two were wearing cat masks, white and navy blue respectively. The one wearing the hyena mask had pale yellow spots replacing the normal ones hyenas normally have. The white one had intricate light pink markings on it and the navy blue one had typical black stripes. They were trying to knock them down, and making sure they stay down, however, they seemed to have gotten a bunch of injuries in doing so, but luckily they hadn't caught a bullet.

The hyena was wearing a spandex jumpsuit with a sleeveless suit jacket with white ruffles around the neck. The spandex was a pale yellow, while the jacket was dark grey. Her feet were protected by black, combat-styled boots. Her hands were covered by black gloves that had joy buzzers on the palms, which she could switch on and off, as well as change the opacity of the shock wave she delivered. At most, they were filled with 3,000 volts of electricity each. The belt that went around her torso was black and held what looked like a staff, but was actually an electrified rod covered by a scabbard with enough volts to kill a person, over twice the amount the joy buzzers could deliver; she liked to call it the "Funny Bone." There were other trick items in the belt, but none were as lethal as the rod. Even the hammer she kept in it, which looked like someone of her size and stature wouldn't be able to even carry, let alone swing with enough force to crack someone's skull, but one should not underestimate her strength. Needless to say, she was not one for stealth.

Meanwhile, the two cats were both wearing spandex suits of their own, a one-piece that stopped at the wrists and ankles and also white and blue with black stripes. The latter's belly was black too, which would help provide nighttime camouflage. A tail lay limply from the tailbone, reaching the ground. The white and pink one had a belt around the waist with a hot pink jewel in the center and a medium-sized white gun near the left hip. The blue and black one had a tool belt that included several wrenches, all equipped with hidden blades, a hammer, and a similarly-sized gun. There was also a small jar filled with a yellow liquid near the gun. Both of their fingers had steel claws strapped where their nails would be, though the white one had pink claws and the blue one had regular unpainted ones. White and black sneakers were their choice of footwear respectively, and white and black gloves as well where the claws were, blending into the rest of the costume.

"Alright, some are around the area, we should be getting backup in a matter of seconds." The hyena informed.

"Next time, don't try to put down an enemy if he hasn't spotted us!" The white cat faced its similar dressed partner.

"Hey, you can't be noticed if there's no one to notice you." Was the reply.

"Well, it's too late for that now! We just gotta hold 'em back until the air force drops in."

They were interrupted by a shout coming from the sky. "Time to turn up the heat!", followed by a fireball falling down onto the group of enemies. Most of them managed to dodge it by a matter of seconds, but a couple were caught in the flames, the blast sending the corpses away, giving space for two figures to fly through the shattered glass ceiling.

"About time!" The white cat exclaimed.

"Yeah yeah, thank us we're here because you can't win your own fights. Now watch and learn!"

More fireballs rained from the sky as Phoenix swooped around the crowd, holding some medium-sized unlit balls of combustible material. This time, her aim was more accurate, and soon the enemies were either dead or running around on fire while the ones who managed to get away were trying to get away from the upcoming flames. Unfortunately for them, though, Phoenix wasn't the only one after them.

The surviving ones, huddled in a small group of their own, came face to face with Absinthe. She simply took out a sickle, raised it above her head, and brought it down, slaying all of the surviving men.

The two aerial girls went over to the injured trio, their injuries weren't severe, but they sure looked like they stung, especially when they were pushing through for who knows how long. Certain areas of their clothing had scratches and small openings around, but apparently no one had bleeding.

"Geez, am I the only one who thought they overreacted a bit?!" The one with the blue cat mask hissed in pain.

"Yes." The other masked figures all replied.

"A thank you would be appreciated." Phoenix placed her hands on her hips.

"We were going to take them out, and you threw a jar of _urine_ at them, Tomcat!" The one with the white cat mask replied. "And thanks for saving our butts, Air Force."

"Yeah, thanks. And I prefer to call it 'fresh lemonade', Aristocat." The black and blue cladded catgirl, Tomcat, gave a shrug with a mischievous grin, revealing shiny silver and sharp teeth.

"You are disgusting…" Aristocat rolled her eyes.

"Thanks!" Tomcat gave a clawed thumbs-up.

"Just because in a virtual fake reality you can use your own piss to hurt enemies doesn't mean it works in the real world." Absinthe pointed out. "You should think in asking Vulpes for equipment, instead of making it yourself."

"I have my own gun and claws as well as steel cat-shaped dentures, I think that should be enough. Plus, the jarate makes a good weapon."

"And that's why I regret letting our brother show you his video games." The group heard from behind them.

"I don't regret getting into them one bit." Another voice spoke, except a bit more masculine-sounding. "Huh, seems you got this thing all sort out."

The group turned around, seeing the fox-masked girl and the boy with the polar bear mask beside her.

"Vulpes, Frostbite! You two made it!" Tomcat exclaimed with a toothy grin as they approached them.

"How did you guys get in here?" Phoenix asked. Frostbite replied by pointing up at the shattered glass ceiling. "Ah, right…"

"Alright, enough chit-chat, we have a mission!" The hyena-masked girl interrupted, for once sounding serious.

"Everyone, hands up!" They heard a scream coming from their side. Turning around, they saw at least twice the number of men from before, even seemed to be better equipped. Not to mention, they didn't have a surprise factor or the high advantage.

"We're gonna give you to the count of three to put your hands up before we open fire!" Another one of them shouted. They all aimed their guns at the masked figures.

"ONE…"

They did so, but they remained calm and poker-faced, except Vulpes was smirking. The group knew what was coming. She used her thumbs to press a tiny button on the side of each of her ring fingers. In doing so, the nozzle on her palms started shooting out large bursts of an unnatural green-colored acid.

The person out in the front didn't even get a chance to shout "THREE!" before his and his comrades' faces were covered in the acid. Instead, they were shouting incoherent cries of agony as the acid immediately started dissolving the skin. They dropped their guns and scattered around, desperate to get it off. Soon, they dropped dead to the ground.

"Wow, they're always sending more men to try and handle you." Frostbite stated as he and the others lowered their arms. "So, can we get the heck outta here, or do we still have to do something?"

"I don't believe we will be able to retreat with the achievement previously expected, due to the substantial injuries of our members and the wave of goons that keep coming in, I believe we'll have to retreat." Vulpes stated, looking back at the injured trio.

"But what about the mission? We came here for a reason!" The hyena girl said.

"Laughingstock, if we risk it anymore than we should, you and the Siamese cats would run a severe danger, either by your injuries getting infected or your loss of concentration will make you get shot."

"Then what are we supposed to do, come back another time? What if it's too late by then?"

"Look, let me take care of this, the rest will help you go back to the base, where Fawna can help you all up." Frostbite said, and during their conversation, he noticed Absinthe standing over one of the men's corpses. ' _What is she doing?'_ He thought to himself.

She knelt down to get a closer inspection on the body's clothes. "What's this…?" She asked, pointing to an odd symbol on its chest. They walked over to her to get a look at it themselves.

The symbol was a circle with an inverted triangle crossing through it, a vertical line going down the center of it with a horizontal line crossing through the end of it. It confused the group as the hadn't seen anything like it.

"Even I am stumped as to what it could mean, if anything." Vulpes commented. The others murmured their agreement in not knowing.

"Seems like there's a new group in town." Frostbite said. "But, I mean, we managed to beat them as easy as with any other people. Why should we worry?" Suddenly, they heard even more men behind them.

" _That_ is a good reason to worry." Vulpes replied in a deadpan tone, turning around.

This time, instead of just travelling on foot, some of them came in with heavy-loaded machine guns, as well as more melee weapons such as machates, bats and the like.

"Ah, come on, I'm sure we've killed each one of them five times already." Frostbite said, irritated as the wave of men surrounded them.

"There's nowhere to run now. Surrender, and we might spare your lives."

All of them raised their hands. "Vulpes, your trick again?"

"My supply of corrosive hydrogen chloride is extremely low." She stated. "Definitely there's not enough for this."

"Alright, guess it's my time." Frostbite lowered his hands.

"Hey, we said hands up!"

"Man, did anybody ever tell you have to chill out?" He pulled a capsule and threw it towards it direction, the team took this moment to split up and hide. The bullets began firing, as a white gas began spreading, and the six masked figures went undercover behind pillars and boxes. Frostbite felt a shot going right on his shoulder right as he went behind protection. Soon, the firing stopped.

"What were you thinking?!" Aristocrat yelled from the other side of the room.

"They're stronger than I thought." He said, holding his left shoulder, now bleeding out and staining his suit, making him exclaim in pain, before grabbing his ice gun. "I'm buying you time. They won't be frozen for much longer, you gotta go!"

The others didn't have to be told twice, they quickly fled the scene. The aerial girls flew up towards the broken ceiling and into the air, Phoenix being strong enough to carry Laughingstock in her arms and Aristocat on her back without much of an issue. Absinthe managed to hold onto Tomcat in her arms and Vulpes on her back, but was in a bit more of a struggle to do so.

They flew up enough to get a good view of the fuming building top, white smoke coming out of it as the outside of the building walls was covered with frost from Frostbite's bomb.

"Is he gonna make it?" Absinthe asked to the girl on her back.

Vulpes gritted her teeth. "I'm not certain, he is surrounded and injured. Even if he somehow managed to freeze those attackers, another wave will arrive soon." She pointed at the big vans and cars pulled down at the base of the building with dozens of men flooding in. The sounds of police sirens were ringing throughout the city, which meant the cops were just as close and getting mixed into this mess.

Back in the building, Frostbite was fighting back with all his might and ice, occasionally whacking the mooks in the head with the ice cannon itself. They were soon starting to pile onto him, though, as he was not a one-man army. Realizing this, he saw a small opening in the pile and leapt toward it, managing to get through. However, the pain in his shoulder stung through his body, causing to let out a yell of pain.

Vulpes suddenly snapped her fingers as an idea came to mind. She looked over to Laughingstock with a twinkle in her eye, or well, her goggles. "Laughingstock!"

The former mentioned looked over at the fox girl as she took out a capsule from her jacket and threw it over at her, and she managed to catch it with ease.

"What's this supposed to be?" She asked, loud enough so she could hear her over the winds.

"I have an idea." Vulpes stated as she caught Phoenix's attention.

"What is it?"

"I need you to fly at a speed of one hundred and fifty miles per hour towards the tower, close enough for Laughingstock to drop the fuse into the building. The explosion will cause a force strong enough to send our comrade flying, and you'll be able to catch him." Vulpes explained. Anybody normally would be hesitant about doing this, but the two girls looked at each other before looking back at the masked genius and grinning determinedly.

"I'm guessing I'll have to hold on for this." Aristocat spoke, though she sounded determined.

"Just don't dig your claws into my back." Phoenix warned as she immediately flew up into the sky at a high speed. Right as she did so, she felt a sharp pain in her back and warm liquid trickling down. She hissed in pain and sighed. "Nevermind…"

She stopped as she prepared herself to dive down, they were so high up that they could see most of the city from where they were. "You two hang on tight, except for you, cat." Aristocat did not let go.

Laughingstock activated the capsule, which unfolded into a small box and started ticking down from 20 seconds. "Let's go." She grinned.

Phoenix's wings suddenly expanded as two rocket boosters spread from the metal circle at the center of her wings. She dived down, the two girls hanging on as hard as they could, even if one was literally digging her claws right through her clothes and into her bare skin. The flames from the jets left bright streaks in the sky as they caught more and more speed, quickly approaching the building top.

10 seconds…

"We're coming in! Get ready to drop it!" Phoenix exclaimed.

Back on the ground, Frostbite was surrounded and injured, kneeling down on the ground as guns were aimed at him, he was out of ammo, out of breath, and he could barely move his arm.

"Any last words, little bear?"

Frostbite breathed heavily between each word. "Y-yeah, I do." He panted, hearing the guns click. However, he gained a smirk on his face, once they all saw a box falling through the ceiling, half of it buried on the floor. "You all can suck on these snowballs!" He growled as the device detonated, launching him upwards. "Wooh!" He shouted, as he began falling for a few seconds before being caught by Phoenix with one hand as she held Laughingstock in her other. The huge explosion sent the bodies of enemy soldiers flying, and sending debris flying in all directions. Good thing Vulpes equipped the suits with protection for explosions. She flew up through the ceiling again, now showing some difficulty holding the teen and young adult, along with the 10 year old that was still digging her claws into her back. Whatever, she'd let Fawna fix that up once they got back to the hideout anyway.

Absinthe managed to catch up with them with Tomcat and Vulpes. Frostbite looked at them and smiled weakly. "I'm guessing you were the bomb, Lis." He chuckled.

Laughingstock let out a high-pitched, hyena-like cackle at the pun while Vulpes rolled her eyes underneath the goggles. "Nice one!"

"We're not supposed to use our real names, or nicknames for those. Thank you, though." Vulpes said,nodding her head.

"I guess I was wrong about your room having a lack of balls all those years ago after all." Phoenix said, letting out a snicker, which annoyed Frostbite.

"I don't want to ruin the family moment here, but three of us are injured and one is almost dead, so can we just go back to the base?!" Aristocat exclaimed, clearly irritated.

"What are we gonna tell Lo- I mean, Pridestalker, though?" Tomcat asked, worrying about facing the leader's wrath.

"Well, she, like the others, will have to know about it. There's a new group in town." Absinthe spoke, looking back at the building, the top concealed by white smoke, a result of the frost and the bomb defusal combined.

"Yeah." Frostbite sighed. "They mean business, which means we'll have to be on the look-out for them."

"Definitely." All six girls answered, not sounding motivated one bit. They flew off south, back to the place they had been calling home for the past 4 years.

* * *

Back at the building, the police had finally arrived and they were shocked at the place, being met with the gruesome scene. The captain ordered them to search the building while others took a look at the vans parked outside, specially towards any survivors or responsibles for such act.

A young cop searched outside the building, looking at the fallen pieces of debris. There wasn't much out of the ordinary, until a faint glow caught his eye. "What the…" He said to himself as he walked over to the glowing piece.

He crouched down, and picked up the debris with his gloved hand as to not damage it. It was releasing a light blue hue, and it seemed to be a part of something else. The cop noticed something beside it, a piece of cloth with a strange symbol on it; the exact same one the team had seen on the corpse.


	3. Chapter 2: New Fiends

After a long flight home, the team arrived back at the base. Partly because the two flying members of the crew knew they wouldn't be able to carry their passengers for much longer, and part because one of them actually passed out due to the blood loss from his shoulder wound. Needless to say, they didn't want to waste any time. They were in desperate need of healing, and luckily for them, they did in fact have one team member that specialized in that.

They went far out of the city, the city lights being seen in the distance behind them, the area that they were in know was along the countryside where very few people lived. It was easier to not be noticed. At best, their closest neighbor was 5 miles away. A good spot to have a secret base.

The team saw a large-three story house, much to their relief. However, they could not hold up any longer, so the girls carrying them increased their speed. They flew in the direction to the floor, where a hidden entrance to their base opened. They slowed down for a few seconds before they reached and collapsed onto the floor. Phoenix and Absinthe's wings retracted upon impact. Footsteps sounded as a figure walked towards them.

"Oh my gosh, are you guys, like, okay?!" A feminine voice said as the figure helped them stand up, grabbing Frostbite's unconscious body in her hands, and she brought him to another room, while the others walked or were dragged right behind them. She laid him out onto a cushioned chair with paper, similar to what you'd see in a doctor's office. The others struggled a bit to make their way. The cool temperature didn't help their relief their pain much either.

The young woman who had helped them was dressed in seafoam green long-sleeved shirt which draped at her shoulders, allowing to see her bra straps, a dark brown skirt that ended at her mid-thigh, black stockings, and brown boots that matched her skirt. Her bright, golden, silky hair draped along her back. However, despite her beautiful features, the woman was distressed about the current situation, although she has seen it plenty of times. Hey, it can't be helped to be worried for your siblings.

She took off the boy's upper clothes, seeing the skin beat up, bruised and bloody. Nothing out of the ordinary for her, but she's still worried for him. Her sisters watched as she grabbed an aid kit, gauges, bandages, disinfector and the like, along with a pair of pliers to take the bullet out.

"Holy shit, Leni, it was _crazy_ back there. You should've seen us on that mission!" Phoenix said and removed her mask, shaking her head, and revealing chocolate brown hair tied in a ponytail. She also had freckles on her face and sullen green eyes with a bit of brown surrounding the pupil and edges of the iris. Her right cheek had a cross scar over it, memory of the earlier days, it's barely noticeable now due to having gotten it years ago, so it's fade with age. Another went over her top eyelid into her hairline but was covered over by her bangs, it hindered her ability to see in that eye a bit, but she managed to work it out . This kind of work wasn't without its risks, after all.

"Like, what happened?" Leni asked.

"The place we were supposed to break into and steal information from turned out to have a shitload of guards there." Tomcat said, as she and the others also removed their masks. They all seemed tired and exhausted from battle, the injuries didn't help.

"Lana, language." Aristocat hissed.

"Jeez, sorry, your Highness…" Lana snarked, casting a glare at her twin.

"I, along with the rest of us, have spent 4 years killing and stealing and basically doing a bunch of shady work. A potty mouth is the least of our problems." Absinthe pointed out while taking off her mask as her bangs fell. She swept them aside to cover up her left eye to allow her to see.

"And Lucy saw some weird symbol on one of the suits of the guards' bodies." Laughingstock added in. "We're thinking that these guys are more serious business than we first thought."

"You don't say?" Phoenix commented. "We almost didn't come back, those guys are a big deal, Linc almost died to give us cover." She then faced Leni. "He didn't die, did he?" They've all made this long, and in this scenario they really thought one would be resting in peace, though they were lucky that was not the case. They could take care of very bad injuries, but not reanimate people. Not even their resident genius could do that.

Leni looked at their brother, and put her fingers to his neck. "No, he's still alive. I can feel his heartbeat in his neck."

"...I believe you meant his pulse, Leni." Vulpes corrected.

"Yeah, that."

"Good." Phoenix nodded. "The last thing we need is someone dying. These new guys, we can't take them alone."

"They definitely seem much more capacitated and well armed than most organizations we've faced so far." Vulpes said, grabbing part of the equipment from the medkit, to help accelerate the process by taking care of the two cats of the group.

"So, what do we do about them?" Tomcat asked as the little girl walked up to her.

"Best thing we can do now is rest, wait for everyone to be here, then we can discuss what we should do." Absinthe said.

"Yeah… but where is everyone else?" Aristocat asked, looking around.

"I think Lily went on her first real mission as part of her training, and Lori came along to help her." Leni replied, disinfecting Lincoln's bullet wound then grabbing the pliers.

"And what about Luna?" Luan leaned over so Leni could see her.

"I think she went on a mission too," Leni concentrated herself as she began pulling out the bullet from Lincoln's shoulder, and successfully doing so. She observed the small object, furrowing her eyebrows. "But I don't know where..."

Suddenly, another shadowy figure popped out behind them, scaring the living daylights out of everyone else in the room, who screamed out loud, except for the only boy, who was still out cold. Even Absinthe, being more used to it being the other way around with her popping up instead.

"Heh, you dudettes are such pansies. It's just me, Luna!" The figure chuckled in a raspy voice and revealed herself. She was a young woman of about 19 years old, clad in black spandex and very bulky purple leather armor. The shoulder pads had three thick metal spikes each. Her gloves were black leather with purple fur lining the insides, and the same went for her heavy winter boots. "Wow mates, what happened to all of ya?"

"A raid gone horribly wrong." Lynn grumbled. "It was supposed to just be a quick mission with just the twins and Luan, but it turns out we greatly underestimated put enemies. Even with me, Lucy, Linc and Lisa, they were overwhelming."

"Yeah. We never saw these guys before. Lucy found a weird symbol on one of the guards' corpse's uniform." Lana said.

"Wait, what does this symbol you're talking about look like?" Luna asked.

Lucy got up and grabbed a pen and notepad and started scribbling away at it. She drew the symbol as well as she could remember it, which looked pretty close to the real thing. The others looked at it and nodded, then handed it over to Luna. When she saw it, her eyes widened and she let out a gasp.

"Shit man, think I saw this symbol before!"

"Really? Where?" They all asked.

"It was a few weeks ago, back on the Fourth of July, the Ol' Carrot wanted me to grab some stuff in a casino."

 _July 4th, 2021_

 _Royal Woods, MI, North Wing_

 _New Lakes Casino_

 _3:08:11AM_

Game night on Independence Day, alongside a masquerade party, meant tons of people wearing masks over their faces, as suits and dresses covered the rest of their bodies, to try their luck in the various games the place has to offer for you to win or most likely lose your money. Big bets tonight, for one of the biggest casinos of the state.

It was a reunion of some of the richest and most popular people around, considering how they were dressed, and the values of the bets. From businessman to artists, and a few new faces that thought they could actually make some cash out of the place with the fortune their parents left, only to go back home with the thought they'd have to back to work.

An young man, son of the owner of the casino, loved to play, drink, and meet other people. Specially the 3 of them at the same time, one of them being a beautiful lady. He stumbled across the Texas Holden poker table, and he delivers a stack of bills he took from his pocket.

"Ten grand, counted," He said. The woman working on the table nodded, and gave him a pile of chips. He sit down, chips in front of him, and ready to play Almost instantly, he saw a young lady sitting by his side, with a pile twice as large, and placed it on the table.

"Twenty." She simply and coldly said. The girl responsible for the table checked the money, and delivered her the chips. After that, the cards were delivered. He got an Ace and a ten, both of Spades, and he decided he liked the girl on his side. So, he tried to start a conversation.

"So, what's your name, my dear?" He asked smoothly.

"It's a wolf mask, not a deer, are you blind?" She said, earning a few laughs. She was wearing a black and dark grey latex werewolf mask, its mouth permanently twisted into a toothy snarl with a long tongue hanging out from the side. She just focused on her game, while he gave an angry and embarrassed glare. A King and Jack of Spades, plus a Seven of Diamonds appeared at the table.

"Look girl, do you have any idea of who I am?" He asked angry.

"The spoiled kid whose father owns this place?" She asked ironically, without even moving her head. More laughs were heard. A Three of Clubs was turned. Only one more card after a role of bets.

"You don't know who you're messing with..." he threatened.

"Oh look, the drunk is pissed again, but he will still win with a Royal Flush. This place doesn't even try to hide the fact that it cheats, just like he can't hide his cards." She said, and at that point, nobody could hold their laughter. "I'm folding, and see if it's not a Queen of Spades coming next."

"Okay, listen up," He said. "You want to make me look like a fool, why don't you tell us who you are?"

She turned to him and grinned widely. "You want to know who I am?"

"Yes, I want to know who you are! So who are you?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked." She growled, and pulled out a guitar-like ax. "I'm the _big bad wolf._ Wow, this sounded better in my head."

The man gave her a look of confusion, then rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know you're wearing the mask, but I'm being serious-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence before the woman swing the instrument, making the man fly through the table, chips flying everywhere, and once he landed on the ground, everyone stared at her.

"I'm not here to play, dudes, I have a _different_ reward in mind…"

Very faintly, she heard someone say "That's what she said." She spun towards them with an angry glare. But she didn't bother much. She quickly dashed through the casino until she reached the room where they kept their most precious values locked up, even before security could arrive at her location. She used her ask as a way to not so delicately burst open one of the many locked cabinets. A lot of papers were inside, as she began going trough.

"Nope… nope… nope… AHA!" She finally found what she was looking for - a list of codes to unlock the safes, crumpled and buried under all of the other files. She assumed that this was done to hide it, though anyone who was patient enough to go through all that stuff could find it just as easily as she did. Besides, greedy fat cats were the last person she would expect to pay much attention to anything.

She went over and used each of the codes to unlock the corresponding safes, going after a few specific items that the person that hired them asked for. She put them in a large beige bag, going on until the bag was nearly full of various trinkets and stacks of cash.

She walked out and was about to make a quiet getaway, but unfortunately, she never was able to keep quiet for long. Apparently, she had made enough of a ruckus to attract a large horde of security officers blocking her way out.

"DROP THE BAG AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" One of the men demanded. He and the rest of the aimed their pistols at her.

"Ah, shit…" She growled under her breath. She dropped the bag and raised her hands, while still holding her instrument of death. "I'll huff, and I'll puff…"

"DROP THE WEAPON!"

But she did not. Instead, she smirked. "AND I'LL BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN!" She shouted, as she strummed it as hard as she could, resulting in a soundblast strong enough to send them flying to the ground. "Oh man, this never gets old. Who'd say a fairy tale would be so fun?" She let out a deep laugh and made her way towards the exit. She saw them starting to get up, so she used her weapon's other function - being an ax, and swung it towards the bottom of the wall. Some material from above came crashing down on them, which she effortlessly dodged.

"Psh, too easy."

She turned around, only to notice that her bag of loot was missing. "Wait, what?!" She looked around and saw the culprits. Some figures that also had odd weapons and wore animal masks. She saw that they were a cheetah, raccoon, panther, and a bear. So, they stole her loot _and_ the style of her family? Well then…

"Hey! Gimme back my loot, I stole it first!" She roared and ran towards them, guitar-ax hybrid in hand.

They stopped in their tracks and looked up to see the well-toned young woman in a wolf mask hulking above them. The one in the raccoon mask snickered. "Heh, whatcha gonna do about it, lady?"

"I'll put on a show, that's what I'll do!" She exclaimed, holding her weapon tight.

The one in the cheetah mask let go of the bag and sashayed towards the wolf girl in an equally elegant and mocking manner. "Well then, doggie, let's see just how big of a show you can put on." Her voice was smooth and for some reason oddly seducing in a way, though she assumed that she wasn't trying to be and it was only in her head. Still, this girl was one of those rats who _dared_ to steal her hard-earned loot, and she wasn't going to stand for it.

"You asked for it, kitty." She raised the blade part over her head and brought it to the ground, only for the cheetah girl to sidestep it and move behind her with catlike grace. She took out her own special weapon, what first appeared to be a regular sword but extended into a long, sharp whip, and lashed it right near her ankles.

She let out a roar of pain and tripped, dropping her ax and falling to the ground right next to it. Luna could feel warm blood trickling down from there. "What is that thing?!"

The girl in the cheetah mask chittered a small laugh. "A whip sword. Gee, dogs really _are_ dumbasses."

"What did you say?!"

"Hey, are we gonna take the loot or not?" A heavyset young man in a bear mask holding a very large sledgehammer asked.

"Hey, you're not taking my stuff!" Luna protested, struggling until she managed to escape the whip's grasp, despite the trickling blood on her ankles.

"Like you would stop us." He said. "Let's go!"

"Oh no you don't!" Despite the searing pain, Luna got up and picked up her ax, readying herself into a fighting position. The four others got into a circle and surrounded her, also ready to fight. The cheetah retracted the whip sword into a regular stiff blade, the raccoon took out some throwing knives and ninja stars from his belt, the panther took out a steel pole, and the bear held his hammer up menacingly.

Now, Luna wasn't feeling so sure. Her eyes shifted from one opponent to another, unsure of who to attack first, or if she should even attack in the first place. Sure, she was considered the brute of the New Law by themselves, but she wasn't exactly immortal and a 4-to-1 battle like this could very easily turn nasty for her. Just then, she heard a voice through her earpiece.

" _What's the holdup, Bad Wolf? You had been expected to be finished with your mission and back at the base 30 minutes ago!"_

"Uh...I had a few...inconveniences." Luna said. She didn't wanted to pass to the leader of her team that she was unable to handle this mission.

"Like fuckin' _hell_ you do!" The raccoon masked boy hissed. "Now let's make it clear… you hand over the bag to us, and we let you get out alive, and go back to whoever you're talking to."

" _Bad Wolf… what happened?"_

"There are these people-"

"Disculpa, la hora de hablar se acabo." The panther girl said in Spanish, (even if Bad Wolf didn't comprehend what she had said) using the pole to hit the side of her head, and smashing the earpiece to bits. Bad Wolf fell over again, near the bag but clutching her weapon. She did not want to retreat, she often prided herself in being the only one on the team along with the Air Force to have never failed a mission in these past 4 years. Yet she knew that she had to make a decision, and quick.

Axe in hand, she strummed and let out another soundwave, knocking the four masked people back and stunning them for a bit, but they were obviously more resistant than the people she knocked out earlier. She grabbed the bag and ran as fast as her heavily-armored legs could carry her straight ahead. The boy with the raccoon mask started throwing the knives and ninja stars at her, being the first to recover. She managed to dodge them, save for one of the knives brushing past her right leg and cutting it. She didn't have time to pay attention to the pain, or the blood leaking from the wound.

She noticed the other three have already recovered from the stunt, and were already aiming for her. Seeing no other option at the moment, she placed the ax back on her back, turned around, and continued running for her life. It was a bit embarrassing, usually four people was warm up, but she couldn't do it. She didn't want to be dead, so she grabbed her loot, and dashed out of the place.

 _ **(End flashback, back to present time)**_

"...and those people had those weird symbols on their outfits too, all four of them, on the arms of their clothes! I didn't know there was more of them, and it has been a while since I've saw another one." Luna finished the story with an exasperated sigh. "And yes, that is why Lisa had to make a new earpiece for me."

"Wait, so only four guys took you down?" Lynn asked.

"Yeah, I know. Bogus, mate. But these guys aren't playing around. They are on our level, maybe even higher."

"Uhh, you said they had stuff like throwing knives and a pole. I have a glitter-zooka, Lisa has her acid gloves, Lincoln has an ice canon, and the rest of us also have weapons of much higher quality. And Lana throws urine at people, but whatever." Lola pointed out, scowling at the last bit. Lana just shrugged with a grin.

"Exactly, but boy do we have a big _pole-_ tential threat on our hands!" Luan laughed.

"Like, I don't think this is a time to joke around, Luan." Leni spoke up, finishing wrapping the wound on Lincoln's shoulder with bandages. "And like, we've been trained almost all our lives, it's kind of a surprise to meet someone of our level after so long." She finished, letting Lincoln rest while she went over to check on Lola. Lisa had almost finished with Lana and would probably would move on to the others later on.

"I do agree with Leni." Lisa said. "This threat seems to be much bigger than any other faced so far. Surprisingly higher number of members to fight, and more prepared for combat. This could even be considered a particular army."

"So…" Lynn voiced, resting her chin on her knuckles. "We finally have a competition? Bully, a challenge." As she finished that phrase, a sly grin appeared on face.

"The fact that there's a force that can kill us easier thrills you?" Lucy asked. "We already lost a lot to people like them. We can't just let them be this giant force against us."

"Exactly, so we're gonna have to snuff them out as soon as possible!" Lola hissed. "And _maybe_ improve some of our arsenal." She meant everyone, but she gave a special glare towards her twin.

"Hey, I say the piss-tol and jarate are very useful for making my enemies lose their will to live. And it's also pretty hard for them to come back after I've sunk my teeth into their neck." She bared her teeth, showing off the bloodied metal dentures.

"Lana, if you want to increase your chances to live while also find more barbaric ways to end an enemy's life, I strongly suggest you get an actual weapon instead of 'making it' yourself."

"You can discuss whenever you believe or not that Lana's arsenal isn't great." They heard a voice coming from the door. Everyone turned around to see their leader, in her usual attire, a tank top with a black jacket over it with khaki shorts and combat boots, on the entrance to the room, along with the youngest one of them, who quickly went to check into them. "Now, can someone explain why our brother is almost dead?"

"We've got bad news, sis." Luna informed.

"I've already realised that, Luna, but what are those bad news?"

"It looks like someone, or a group of people, is breaking the New Law, and being able to resist us."

Lori's eyes narrowed into a glare, and her mouth twisted into a scowl. "Who do we need to take out, then?" She demanded.

Luna looked back at each member of the group, each one, even Lisa, shaking their heads to show their answer. With a sigh, Luna pursed her lips before she managed to look at Lori in the eye. "We don't know."

"We don't know? What do you mean, we don't know?!" Lori took a few moments to calm herself down. "This is very bad news for us, if there are other people out there that can stop us. For all we know, dealing with investigating cops could be _child's play_ compared to this."

"Well, yes… but still."

"Okay, for now, we can't risk ourselves that much. Nobody goes alone on mission until second order. If we're in pairs, they'll have a harder time to-"

"Lori, we almost didn't make it out there with these guys." Luan said. "And we had _seven_ in our party! If Lisa didn't think fast enough, Lincoln wouldn't have even come back!"

For the first time on that day, or maybe even since they've began on this life, they saw Lori excitate. She froze for a few moment while the group just stared at her, waiting for her to speak up and order them around like she usually does, but nothing came. Lori lowered her head for a few seconds before looking back at them with a stern glare.

"I'm the leader here, I know what's best for us, and I say we'll no longer go alone, we'll go in pairs." She practically hissed, her tone cold as ice and her glare terrifying. "If you encounter them, flee, no questions asked."

"Flee?! You want us to run away like cowards?!" Lynn yelled, jumping to her feet with a scowl on her face.

"I'd rather see all of this team as cowards than miss some of us any day of the week." Lori affirmed. "I won't risk losing anyone. Pay extra _extra_ attention to our surroundings at all times, and for the love of all things holy… do. NOT. Get. Cocky." Lori's voice boomed in the small room as her glare fell on Lynn. "Understood?"

"Oh c'mon, sure I've intentionally set off alarms to turn my mission into a Time Trial before, but-"

"UNDERSTOOD?!"

"Y-yes, Lori." Lynn whimpered and shrunk in her spot.

"Good." Lori coughed into her hand, having strained her throat a bit by yelling at her sister.

" _..._ That won't work…" They heard a weak voice coming from the room. The white haired and only boy of the team was with his eyes opened, even if he was still laying down.

"Lincoln! Go back and rest. You shouldn't be up right now." Leni went over to the boy's side.

"No, really, listen to me. Everything you said… it won't be enough."

"What exactly do you mean?"

"These guys are the strongest around here…" he began. "At first, they won't mind, but eventually, our presence will hurt their business. That means they'll come towards us specifically to end us once and for all. We simply won't be able to run forever."

"So what is your big plan, man with the plan?" Lori asked.

Lincoln opened his mouth to say something, though he didn't seem to know what to say. Lisa actually said something. "We must find out as most as possible about this group, their members, hideouts, equipment, ect. After we have enough information on our enemy, and we're all healed, we'll have to work as a team, and all together." She made a pause to cough, as all of the sisters and brother faced her. "...and together...we'll have to run them out of their business, before they do that to us."

"That's… actually better than what I was gonna say, but still along the lines of that. Whoever they are, we gotta gather any info we can on them, and use it against them." Lincoln said.

The group erupted with chatter, turning to each other and discussing what they had just been told. Lori soon joined in as well. Soon enough, they finished talking and turned back to him.

"He's right. If Luna can't do it herself, and 7 of us can't do it together… we'll need all 11 of us." Lori stated.

"What if that's not enough?" Lucy asked, freaking everyone out by her suddenness, but they soon regained their bearings.

"It has to be enough." Lori said, earning the silence of everyone in the room. "And if it's not...we'll find that the _hard_ way."

"The hard way meaning that we all either get exposed, get killed, both, or meet some other horrible fate!" Luan said. "I'm sorry that I'm not being my usual jokey self, but this is some serious shit we've been pulled into!"

"Look, everyone, we will make things work out. We've made them work for the last four years, and it won't be today that we will lose. Now, all of you, it's time to rest. If we want to take these guys down, we have a lot to work on."

Leni let out a yawn and checked her watch. "Yeah, it's pretty late, and I'm not usually up right now unless it's for an urgent mission."

"Yeah, I think we all need to get some rest. It's been a long night." Lynn said, standing up and stretching.

"Okay, everyone, to their rooms. Get as much rest as possible. We'll have a load of hard working nights from now on." Lori said. They did as they were told and headed off to their resting chambers. "Lincoln, you should stay here." Lori said and soon joined the rest of the sisters.

"Goodnight girls."


End file.
